The Freelancers

by OverHeart

Chapter 44 - Into The Dark

“Not far now. You see that structure in the distance, the one with the big substation outside?” Steel said, pointing out the building in question with a hoof. “That’s your entry point. There’s a door hidden behind a false wall that leads down to a sort of maintenance shaft.”

“And that’ll take us into the tunnels?” Lucky asked.

Steel nodded. “I’m not gonna lie to you, it’ll be a real pain in the ass navigating your way through the tunnels, but the only other way is going into the city and boarding a train,”

“I think we’d prefer not to draw too much attention to ourselves, not after what happened when we got reckless before.” Sheet Rock remarked. “Do you have any advice for us?”

“Other than keep your head down, eyes open, and trust nobody you meet in there, I don’t think I can give any advice you haven’t already heard before.”

Steel’s pickup came to a stop a little distance from their target, and after doing a quick weapons check, they were ready to delve deep, hopped off the back onto the dusty ground, and each took up positions behind the rusted fence that surrounded the structure, hopefully out of sight of anyone who might pass by as long as they kept behind the building itself.

Matterhorn wandered off to go check the door that led inside, its door barely on its hinges due to all the sand and rust that had built up over the years. He tugged at the door, which shuddered open slightly as the others looked around to make sure they were alone.

The inside of the building was dark, apart from the single window near the door that let in some amount of natural light, and all the equipment inside looked like it hadn’t been used in decades.

“No power.” he said to himself, as Star walked in behind him. “Watch yourself, power’s out, not that anything in this place will run anyway.”

“Anything useful?”

“The tech in here looks like it was outdated even when it was new.” Matterhorn chuckled. “Look, the dust has actual thickness. Nobody has been here in a very, very, long time.”

“Looks like they used sheet steel to line the walls with too, look there, a few of them are loose.” Star pointed out. “That must be what Steel had meant by a false wall.”

Matterhorn went about removing the false wall as the others entered the tiny structure, noses instantly scrunched up in disgust when the smell of stale air and dust met their noses. Access stepped forward authoritatively, seeking to take charge as this was his and Sheet Rock’s problem to solve.

“Me and Sheet will take point, Star and Lucky should take up the middle. You and Snowy can take the rear, Magic and long rifles are better kept away from the action.”

Matterhorn nodded and stepped aside, gesturing for him to take point. Now that the false wall had been removed, they could see into featureless room that housed their way in, a recessed manhole set into the concrete.

It looked like it hadn’t been opened in some time, but there was some loose concrete dust around the manhole’s lip, which indicated that it may not have been that long ago when it was used last.

Slowly, little by little, Access pulled open the manhole. It was dimly lit all the way down, and they’d each have to go down one at a time, one after another.

“After you, Access.” Lucky chuckled. “Check your weapons everyone, this is it.”

---

“How’re you holding up, Scarlet?” Bulwark said worryingly. “You’ve not said anything in hours.”

They’d long been let out of their restraints, but had been confined to a small featureless concrete room with only a small fluorescent lamp in the ceiling for light. A small window allowed them some idea of what was going on outside, but Scarlet had seen very little in the hours upon hours she had been staring out of it beyond some empty and barren hallways made of the same concrete their cell appeared to be.

Wherever they were, it was clearly somewhere enclosed, perhaps even underground.

“They don’t even know where we are, do they?” Scarlet said quietly. “He has to be lieing, nobody is that lucky.”

“Knowing those two, they’ll have something up their sleeves, I wouldn’t worry.” Bulwark reassured.

“The Crown is a myth, the kind of thing you tell your foal at night to reassure someone out there still cares, that the old ways are still alive in some form.” Scarlet spat. “Even if they are real, how and why would they contact Access and Sheet Rock, for what purpose?”

“Riot did say they were after him, perhaps they’ll use us as a reason for those two to want to find him.” Bulwark pointed out. “I don’t like the idea of there being an ulterior motive though, sounds way too sinister for my liking.”

Suddenly, a rattle came from their cell’s door. Gray was stood there, blankly staring at the two with a tray in hoof.

“Food.” he stated simply before he placed it between an opening in the cell door. “I thought you’d be hungry by now.”

“Your boss doesn’t seem like the kind of pony to treat captives very well.” Bulwark said, snatching the tray from Gray.

“He isn’t.” Gray said calmly. “You shouldn’t blame him though, he is merely playing with the hand he was given.”

“Is that supposed to be comforting?” Scarlet said, jumping down from the window. “He threatened us, destroyed our home, and twisted a trusted friend to his service.”

“I wont try to excuse his actions, but it was all in the name of survival.” Gray said, nodding a little. “Perhaps it’s time to see what our group really looks like.”

He opened the cell door and stood aside, all with an unsettling expression. Gray didn’t show any trace of emotion as the two reluctantly exited the cell, it was like he was a blank shell, and yet he showed some amount of compassion during their brief exchange.

Scarlet peered at their captor for a moment as a number of questions flooded her mind.

“Gray, can i-”

“I know you probably have many questions, but right now, it’ll be better for you and us to simply just show you what were about.” Gray soothed. “Please, hold off on any judgments until then.”

They walked past a number of other cells on their way down the hallway, all of which were empty. Eventually, the depressing concrete gave way to navy blue steel and tiled flooring as the three came to a set of sliding frosted glass doors.

Gray slid open the doors to reveal a cavernous interior space, covered in the same navy blue steel covering the cell block’s walls, with fluorescent lights recessed into the ceiling that acted as their main source of lighting.

It was like a city under a vast metal sky, buildings made of welded scrap and reclaimed concrete reached into the “sky” of the space, and despite the fact the place was entirely enclosed, grass and even flowers had grown on several earthy spots between what looked like pathways and roads, criss-crossing between the scrap structures.

“We’re quite a distance underground, underneath one of the Arcology’s old satellite structures. Over time they saw less and less usage until they eventually became abandoned.” Gray said with a hint of sorrow. “Good for us that it was still workable when we arrived. A little elbow grease was required to get the power and climate control working again though, but we managed.”

“Who is us?” Scarlet remarked, still in awe at the sheer size of the underground city. “This place is huge, enough for hundreds of ponies!”

“A little over thousand, I think you’ll find, with capacity for many more.” Gray said, gesturing for them to follow him down a staircase toward what acted as the city’s main square. “I have a favor to ask of you, if you’ll indulge me.”

Gray looked around for a moment. Of all the ponies around, none of them seemed to be paying them any mind but he still looked very nervous. He was looking for a particular pony, one that Scarlet and Bulwark knew well enough by now.

“I need you to help me get rid of Riot, his actions are jeopardizing our safety.” he said plainly. “I respect him greatly for all the good he’s done over the years, but he and his goons have forgotten what their job is, and have gone around terrorizing ponies, making enemies with little regard how that’ll affect us.”

“Like our friends.” Bulwark said, nodding in agreement. “How’re we doing this? I don’t think he’ll just go if we ask nicely.”

“This next part involves your friends as well, by the way.” Gray said, nodding. “What you are going to do however, is exactly what he wants you to do, but you’re going to feed him a lie in the process. With any luck this will put him off balance and place him into a position where we can be rid of him.”

“How can you be sure they’ll show, they don’t even know where we are!” Scarlet fret. “We were long gone by the time they showed up at the hideout, assuming they showed up at all.”

Gray smiled, a strange look on a pony that had showed almost no emotion at all beforehand. It was very unnerving, but comforting in a way. Without saying a word, Gray reassured them that he knew what he was doing.

Scarlet wasn’t convinced however, not in the slightest.